August 8, 2011
China’s sphere of influence welcomed by those influenced
January 11, 2011
Congratulations to responsible power China on stealth technology
China conducts first test-flight of stealth plane
Photos of the Chinese-made stealth aircraft began appearing on websites earlier this monthContinue reading the main story
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China has conducted the first test-flight of its J-20 stealth fighter, Chinese President Hu Jintao has confirmed to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
The confirmation came after images of the 15-minute flight in Chengdu appeared on several Chinese websites.
Mr Hu said that the flight had not been timed to coincide with Mr Gates’ visit, the US defence secretary said.
The US is currently the only nation with a fully operational stealth plane.
But both Russia and China are known to be working on prototypes of stealth fighters, which are invisible to radar.
Mr Gates’ three-day visit to Beijing comes amid US concern over the speed at which China’s military is modernising and upgrading its technology.
“I asked President Hu about it directly, and he said that the test had absolutely nothing to do with my visit and had been a pre-planned test. And that’s where we left it,” Mr Gates was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
‘Take some time’
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Shirong Chen BBC China Editor
Analysis
Shirong Chen BBC China Editor
Before the official confirmation from the president, pictures reportedly taken by fighter jet spotters had appeared on all major Chinese web portals, including the state-run Xinhua news agency.
There is also a video clip showing the stealth fighter taxi-ing, taking off and landing, accompanied by a trainer jet, with fans chatting and shouting “magnificent”.
The spotters have been camped out near the fighter jet design institute in Chengdu, in south-west China. They have dubbed the prototype “Black Ribbon”, meaning black 4th generation fighter.
They also say that Xi Jinping, China’s Vice-President and Vice-Chairman of the Military Commission, visited the airfield on Saturday, presumably to witness a test flight that was aborted due to bad weather.
Leaked images of what was said to be China’s J-20 fighter first appeared earlier this month during taxi tests at the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute.
On Tuesday, the plane took off and flew for about 15 minutes, according to eyewitness accounts published on unofficial Chinese web portals.
A video clip of the flight was also posted on the web.
China says it expects the stealth plane to be operational some time between 2017 and 2019.
But earlier this month the Pentagon played down concerns over the fighter.
“Developing a stealth capability with a prototype and then integrating that into a combat environment is going to take some time,” said US director of naval intelligence Vice Admiral David Dorsett.
China’s official military budget quadrupled between 1999 and 2009 as the country’s economy grew. In 2010 it stood at $78bn (£50bn).
But the US has by far the largest defence budget in the world at just over $700bn.
December 19, 2010
China and Pakistan conclude deals of 35 billion dollars including nuclear plant
As foreign powers and regional powers conspire, Pakistan and China further cement all-weather friendship to lead the world into the Asian century.
From www.dawn.com
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is to address a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament on Sunday, wrapping up a three-day visit to Islamabad that concluded deals worth around 35 billion dollars.
Boosting trade and investment with Pakistan was the focus of the first visit by a Chinese premier in five years to the country, which is battling a Taliban insurgency and is at the forefront of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda.
Business leaders and cabinet ministers formalised around 35 billion dollars’ worth of trade deals during the visit, signing a raft of agreements designed to prop up Pakistan’s ailing economy and ease its crippling energy crisis.
Pakistan regards China as its closest ally and the deals as incredibly important to a moribund economy, which was dealt a massive blow by catastrophic flooding this year and suffers from sluggish Western investment.
The nuclear-armed Muslim nation, with a population of 167 million, produces only 80 per cent of its electricity needs, starving industry that has slumped in the face of recession and three years of Taliban-linked bombings.
Though not specifically mentioned, behind-the-scenes talks were expected on China building a one-gigawatt nuclear power plant as part of Pakistani plans to produce 8,000 megawatts of electricity by 2025 to make up its energy shortfall.
Wen is due to address both houses of parliament at around 9:00 am (0400 GMT) to end a visit that a follows a tour to India, where he and his 400-strong delegation signed deals to double trade to 100 billion dollars a year by 2015.
Pakistan imposed blanket security for the visit, which coincided with a public holiday and the weekend, determined that suicide attacks and bombings that have killed 4,000 people since 2007 would not mar the occasion.
Addressing a lunch held in his honour on Saturday, Wen declared that Beijing would “never give up” on its troubled neighbour.
“The China-Pakistan relationship has withstood the test of time and changes in the international landscape,” Wen said.
“Under no circumstances we will give up on our commitment to pursuing this partnership.”He inaugurated a 35-million-dollar cultural centre built as a monument to Pakistani-Chinese friendship and held talks with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and senior figures in the military, which depends on China for hardware.
Pakistan is reliant on China’s clout to offset the perceived threat from rival India and rescue its economy.
But local analysts recognise that China’s support comes at a price — a price that could increase as Beijing edges closer to superpower status.
“China will expect Pakistan to be more forthright in counter-terrorism,” said political analyst Hasan Askari.
“It has worries about militancy in western China”, where it wants to develop Kashgar city into a major industrial and economic centre, he added.
December 18, 2010
The containment of China & Iran via trilaterial alliance
The focus below is on Afghanistan but a powerful alliance has been and being forged to contain the great awakening of Asia’s sleeping Giant: China
10. (C) The 21st Century Leadership Alliance can provide the basis for greater cooperation between the U.S., India and Japan in promoting democracy and good governance in Afghanistan read any trouble spot or challenger in Asia. The recent inception of the joint U.S.-Japan-India project to develop the Public Administration program at Kabul University could serve as a model for similar cooperation in other fields, such as agriculture, veterinary science, English or other foreign language development, or even faculty development. In addition to three-way collaboration, XXXXXXXXXXXX pointed out that, even when the U.S., India and Japan are not working together, they could coordinate better on divisions of labor which could more effectively target donor money and efforts, and take advantage of each country’s area of “expertise”. Additionally, we could explore ways to use the U.S.-Japan Strategic Development Alliance to approach India on other coordinated trilateral projects.
1. (C) According to XXXXXXXXXXXX and other Embassy contacts, transit through Pakistan is imperative for the economic integration of the region, and would be mutually beneficial for Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. However, India’s perception is that Pakistan is creating obstacles that prevent such a land route from becoming a reality, and Afghan Embassy officials have indicated that they are pessimistic that the Government of Pakistan (GOP) will budge on this issue (ref b). We should use every opportunity to continue to press the GOP to allow this essential transit route. This issue will be on the agenda at the upcoming South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting April 3-4, and XXXXXXXXXXXX, who told PolCouns March 12 that obtaining a transit route from Afghanistan through Pakistan to India was the “only benefit of Afghanistan’s membership in SAARC,” and that SAARC would be a disappointment if it didn’t advance the transit issue. (COMMENT: Transit across Pakistan would also reduce India’s reliance on Iran. END
The United States is attempting to corner China in Asia but it is a strategy not likely to succeed. China is a responsible Asian country that treats small countries with respect. This strategy will force China into creating its own alliances.
November 19, 2010
Pakistani women win cricket gold in great friendly country of China
Pakistan Women’s Cricket Team relishes spotlight in Guangzhou
Pakistan batswoman Rashid Nida is hit by the ball during the game against China on Monday. Pakistan won by nine wickets. (Edmond Tang / China Daily)
The Guangzhou Asian Games have made Sana Mir, Captain of the Pakistan Women’s Cricket Team, feel like a big-screen star.
Pakistan, the tournament’s No 1 seed, easily won its game against newcomer China by nine wickets on Monday, but that sparkling effort was not what truly impressed Mir.
“We never get this kind of media coverage back at home. I am just so glad the sport made it to the Asian Games,” said the 26-year-old. “There is always TV coverage when the Men’s Cricket Team plays in Pakistan because it is huge, but you never see us playing on big screens or TVs,” she said.
Although Pakistan has 500 to 600 professional women players under the age of 19, and about 1,000 to 1,200 playing at the senior level, they are overshadowed by the men’s game, said Ayesha Ashhar, Manager of the Women’s Team.
“Our earnings can’t compare with what the men make. It’s the love of the sport that keeps us going,” said Mir. “We would like to be treated and rewarded just like the Men’s Team.”
Unlike some of the women players whose families are against them playing due to strict traditions, Mir’s family is happy for her to play the game. “I have to thank my parents and brother for their support, otherwise I couldn’t have made it this far.”
Meanwhile, Ashhar said women’s cricket in Pakistan has improved rapidly over the past two to three years, thanks to an effective domestic structure which helps players to train and progress at a young age.
“The team’s performance at the international level wouldn’t be as good as it is now without that.”
She also said China definitely gave the No 1 seed a surprise in Monday’s match – the first between the two countries.
“For a young team that only has three years’ of history, what China did on the field was excellent – especially the bowling,” the manager said.
Currently all of the Chinese players are converts from other sports, including Rugby, Softball, Volleyball and Athletics.
“Cricket needs many years to become established in a country. For China, the challenge is to attract enough talented players and coaches. But I believe when China chooses to develop a sport, it succeeds,” Ashhar said.
“All we need now is time,” said Liu Rongyao, Manager of China Women’s Team. “In ten years’ time, China will be among the top three women’s teams in Asia.”
August 11, 2010
China once again assists neighbor Pakistan. Thank you great people of China.
www.dawn.com
He was talking to the Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan, Luo Zhaohui. Qureshi asked for more help from China to overcome the complex situation due to floods in Pakistan. He said that he was unable to attend Shanghai Expo 2010 because of floods.
Qureshi met Luo Zhaohui in foreign office where both discussed the landslides in China and floods situation in Pakistan.
Pakistan foreign minister said that he would never forget the great Chinese cooperation in Ataabad lake disaster. He thanked China for her help to flood victims.
Qureshi said that floods destroyed millions of acres crops and basic infrastructure and hundreds of thousand of peoples are facing difficulties under the sky.
Chinese ambassador assured his every possible assistance. He also handed over Rs.15 Lacs to Qureshi which were collected from Chinese traders and business people.
Zhaohui assured that the people of Pakistan would never be left alone. China is devising a comprehensive plan to help floods victims, in which chine will help in food, shelters and to retain basic infrastructure in the flood affected areas.
August 1, 2010
China helps Pakistan once again. Long live China!
According to a Spokesman of China’s embassy in Pakistan, the decision to extend assistance for flood relief and rescue in Pakistan is a reflection of the friendship that the Chinese Government and people have with the Pakistani Government and people.
Meanwhile, Diplomats and staff members of Chinese Embassy in Islamabad voluntarily donated Rs 600,000 to help the flood-affected people in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
The donation was made as a good-will gesture and to express solidarity and sympathy with the affected people.
Chinese Ambassador Liu Jian traveled to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and met the local officials Saturday afternoon.
The Ambassador expressed his condolences to the victims of the flood and his gratitude to the Pakistan government and people for their help in evacuating the flood-stranded Chinese workers and searching for the missing.
Liu handed over the donation and requested that it be immediately passed on to the flood-afflicted people.
July 17, 2010
Indian on Pak/China Relations
It’s highly unlikely that China will give up playing the Pakistan card vis-a-vis India [ Images ] anytime soon. Indian policy makers would be well advised to disabuse themselves of the notion of a Sino-Indian rapprochement. China doesn’t do sentimentality in foreign policy, India should follow suit, writes Harsh V Pant.
China will reportedly make a statement on its decision to supply two more nuclear reactors to Pakistan during the meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group this week in New Zealand [ Images ].
The Indian government has suggested it will be trying to call Beijing’s [ Images ] bluff by exposing the underlying flaws in China’s argument in support of such a deal. New Delhi [ Images ] has also made its reservations known to Beijing through diplomatic channels. But should it really come as a surprise that China is trying its best to maintain nuclear parity between India and Pakistan?
After all, this is what China has been doing for the last five decades. Based on their convergent interests vis-a-vis India, China and Pakistan reached a strategic understanding in mid-1950s, a bond that has only strengthened ever since. Sino-Pakistan ties gained particular momentum in aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian war when the two states signed a boundary agreement recognising Chinese control over portions of the disputed Kashmir [ Images ] territory and since then the ties have been so strong that Chinese President Hu Jintao has described the relationship as “higher than mountains and deeper than oceans.” Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari [ Images ], has suggested that “No relationship between two sovereign states is as unique and durable as that between Pakistan and China.”
Maintaining close ties with China has been a priority for Islamabad [ Images ] and Beijing has provided extensive economic, military and technical assistance to Pakistan over the years. It was Pakistan that in the early 1970s enabled China to cultivate its ties with the West and the US in particular, becoming the conduit for Henry Kissinger’s landmark secret visit to China in 1971 and has been instrumental in bringing China closer to the larger Muslim world.
Over the years China emerged Pakistan’s largest defence supplier. Military cooperation between the two has deepened with joint projects producing armaments ranging from fighter jets to guided missile frigates. China is a steady source of military hardware to the resource-deficient Pakistani Army. It has not only given technology assistance to Pakistan but has also helped Pakistan to set-up mass weapons production factories. Pakistan’s military modernisation process remains dependent on Chinese largesse.
In the last two decades, the two states have been actively involved in a range of joint ventures including the JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft, the K-8 Karakorum advance training aircraft, and the Babur cruise missile, the dimensions of which exactly replicate the Hong Niao Chinese cruise missile. The JF-17 venture is particularly significant given its utility in delivering nuclear weapons.
In a major move for China’s indigenous defence industry, China is also supplying its most advanced home-made combat aircraft, the third-generation J-10 fighter jets to Pakistan, in a deal worth around $6 billion. Beijing is helping Pakistan build and launch satellites for remote sensing and communication even as Pakistan is reportedly already hosting a Chinese space communication facility at Karachi.
China has played a major role in the development of Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure and emerged Pakistan’s benefactor at a time when increasingly stringent export controls in western countries made it difficult for Pakistan to acquire materials and technology from elsewhere.
The Pakistani nuclear weapons programme is essentially an extension of the Chinese one. Despite being a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, China has supplied Pakistan with nuclear materials and expertise and has provided critical assistance in the construction of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities. As has been aptly noted by the non-proliferation expert Gary Milhollin, “If you subtract China’s help from Pakistan’s nuclear programme, there is no nuclear programme.”
Although China has long denied helping any nation attain a nuclear capability, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, himself has acknowledged the crucial role China has played in his nation’s nuclear weaponisation by gifting 50 kilograms of weapons-grade enriched uranium, drawing of the nuclear weapons and tons of uranium hexafluoride for Pakistan’s centrifuges.
This is perhaps the only case where a nuclear weapon state has actually passed on weapons grade fissile material as well as a bomb design to a non-nuclear weapon state.
India has been the main factor that has influenced China and Pakistan’s policies vis-a-vis each other. Whereas Pakistan wants to gain access to civilian and military resources from China to balance Indian might in the sub-continent, China, viewing India as potential challenger in the strategic landscape of Asia, views Pakistan as it central instrument to counter Indian power in the region.
The China-Pakistan partnership serves the interests of both by presenting India with a potential two front theatre in the event of war with either country. In their own ways each is using the other to balance India as India’s disputes with Pakistan keep it preoccupied failing to attain its potential as a major regional and global player.
China meanwhile guarantees the security of Pakistan when it comes to its conflicts with India thus preventing India from using its much superior conventional military strength against Pakistan. Not surprisingly, one of the central pillars of Pakistan’s strategic policies for the last more than four decades has been its steady and ever-growing military relationship with China.
And preventing India’s dominance of South Asia by strengthening Pakistan has been a strategic priority for China.
But with India’s ascent in global hierarchy and American attempts to carve out a strong partnership with India, China’s need for Pakistan is only likely to grow. A rising India makes Pakistan all the more important for Chinese strategy for the subcontinent. It’s highly unlikely that China will give up playing the Pakistan card vis-a-vis India anytime soon. Indian policy makers would be well advised to disabuse themselves of the notion of a Sino-Indian rapprochement. China doesn’t do sentimentality in foreign policy, India should follow suit.
July 4, 2010
Pak-China need no colonialist waiver
China believes that its agreement to install two new nuclear reactors in Pakistan does not violate international obligations, says the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
In a statement to the US media, the embassy’s spokesman Wang Baodong told the US media that Beijing was convinced the reactor agreement “goes along well with the international obligations China and Pakistan carry in relation to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime”.
A US expert, Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, endorsed the Chinese position but urged Beijing to be careful.
“The US doesn’t really have any options…..the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s guidelines are voluntary. There is nothing the US can do to prevent China from going ahead with this deal,” he said.
“Unless Washington comes up with a very, very attractive offer, the history of Chinese-Pakistani relations is such that it is unlikely that this deal will not go through,” Heritage Foundation researcher Dean Cheng told the US media.
A State Department official disagreed with the suggestion but did so rather meekly.
The United States “suspects” that China would need a waiver from a nuclear export control group to move ahead with the sale of two atomic energy plants to Pakistan, a department official told the Washington Times.
Beijing is one of the 46 member states of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which seeks to block access to nuclear technology and materials by nations that have not joined the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Its guidelines prohibit any deal with the countries that have not yet signed the NPT, such as Pakistan. But last year it gave a waiver to India under US and international pressure.
Beijing contends that because it built two nuclear reactors in Pakistan before becoming a member of the NSG, the new atomic deal should be allowed.
“The United States has reiterated concern that the transfer of new reactors at Chashma appears to extend beyond cooperation that was ‘grandfathered’ when China was approved for membership in the NSG,” US State Department spokesman Noel Clay said.
Mr Clay said if the new reactors did not fall under the ‘grandfather exception’ then Beijing needed a waiver from the nuclear export body, similar to the 2008 allowance that has allowed India — another nuclear-armed, non-NPT country — to sign atomic trade deals with the United States and other nations.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group operates on consensus so all member nations must agree on granting the exemption.
“We are still waiting for more information from China to clarify China’s intended cooperation with Pakistan, in light of China’s NSG commitments,” Mr Clay said.
June 30, 2010
China and Chinese Province called Taiwan complete historic trade pact
FROM www.npr.org
A historic trade deal between China and Taiwan will ease 60 years of hostility and push their economies closer than ever, the latest sign that Beijing’s strategy of wooing the self-ruled island with carrots instead of sticks is paying off.
At the signing of the deal in the Chinese city of Chonqquing on Tuesday, negotiators on both sides spoke of a new era in ties across the Taiwan Strait — where the threat of military conflict has lingered since Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949.
Bilateral trade already totals $110 billion annually, and the pact aims to boost it further by slashing tariffs on a wide range of products. Taiwanese businesses are among the most eager to invest on the mainland, which the pact will promote by formalizing mechanisms for dispute mediation and promising access to new sectors such as banking and insurance.
“This is a critical moment in the development of long-term relations. We should seize the opportunity to work together and build mutual trust,” Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan’s semiofficial Straits Exchange Foundation, said ahead of the signing.
His Beijing counterpart, Chen Yunlin, called it an agreement of “equal consultation and mutual benefits.”
The nuts and bolts of the pact, formally known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, resemble a deal China hammered out recently with a bloc of trade partners in Southeast Asia, but with added political resonance. It reflects Beijing’s commitment to improving ties with Taiwan and signals a softening of the mainland’s stance toward the island of 23 million.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has sought to move beyond the threatening rhetoric that long characterized Beijing’s response to Taiwan’s refusal to unify with the mainland. His government has talked of ending the state of hostility with Taiwan and negotiating a peace treaty.
“For Taiwan, this is purely an economic deal, while for China, this is a political move,” said Kao Huei at the National Kinmen Institute of Technology in Taiwan. “Mainland China now sees cross-strait relations at a stage of peaceful development, and the signing of ECFA fits into that narrative. In the long term, what China wants to achieve with peaceful development is peaceful unification with Taiwan.”
For decades, relations have been strained and the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait remains a potential military flash point. China has 1,300 missiles aimed at Taiwanese targets and, while Taiwan has cut its defense budget as a proportion of GDP in the last two years, it retains a relatively well-equipped air force.
But in the last two years, the sides have tried to build trust by resuming regular air and sea links after a hiatus of 60 years and ending across-the-board restrictions on Chinese investment in Taiwan.
Chao Chun-shan, a political science professor of Taipei’s Tamkang University, said the trade deal should do even more to bind the two sides together and could help cool military tensions.
“If Taiwanese gain the benefits from trading with the mainland, they will let down their guard and the two sides could move on to more sensitive topics, such as a diplomatic truce, military trust or peace treaty,” Chao said.
For Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou, the deal is the centerpiece of a campaign of rapprochement he has helped engineer since taking office in May 2008. Ma argues that a trade deal with China is necessary to prevent Taiwan’s economic marginalization amid growing commercial ties between Beijing and neighboring Asian countries. But he is under pressure to prove his strategy is working to Taiwan’s boisterous democracy and a divided public skeptical about Beijing’s intentions.
More than 30,000 Taiwanese protested the deal in the capital Taipei over the weekend. Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party have criticized Ma for proceeding without enough public input and rejecting calls for a public referendum on the agreement.
Still, polls show a majority of Taiwanese support the deal because of the economic boost it promises – although most on the island still prefer self-rule.
The agreement is expected to be easily approved by Taiwan’s legislature — possibly as early as next month — because Ma’s ruling Nationalist Party holds a majority of the seats.
Analysts expect it will boost Taiwan’s GDP – but the more significant returns may be political.
“It means the two sides will be more cautious should there be any tensions or friction,” said Tang Yonghong, an expert on cross-strait economic and trade relations at Xiamen University in south China’s Fujian province. “They will be more reluctant to sacrifice cross-strait trade and stage a war.”
